By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – It was the summer of 1971, and Nick Knowlton’s hair was so long he could sit on it.

This fact didn’t make the prospect of meeting his girlfriend’s parents any easier, because her father was a corporal in the Marines. But when they got to the house and her mother turned to face the young couple in the kitchen, he immediately recognized the woman from his days working at The Steer House. He’d always respected and admired her, and he knew he would always feel the same for her daughter.

“I knew right that second I was going to marry her,” he said, looking across his Brooks Avenue living room at Joy Knowlton, who today has been his wife for 28 years.

The couple has actually been together longer, which may come as a surprise to many Nick Knowlton fans. The popular local entertainer said he frequently gets disproving looks when he claims his wife can’t carry a tune. Most assume he’s married to one of his female singing partners.

“It’s interesting that I’ve had at least three wives and nobody’s ever met my first one,” he quipped Wednesday.

They both went to Lewiston High School, where Knowlton often hung out with underclassmen. He’d seen The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan show, and he wanted a life of rock n’ roll stardom.

He graduated in 1969, and she graduated in 1973. It was that summer of 1971, when she was only 15, that they began dating. She’d been dating a mutual friend, and the guy had just ended the relationship.

“My initial attempt was to console her,” Nick Knowlton said. But he changed his mind quickly, working up the nerve to ask her on a date.

They went to see a movie at the drive-in theater in Lisbon. Nervous, Knowlton dragged along a friend who sat in the back seat. Joy Knowlton laughed at the memory.

The secret to their long marriage: trust, communication and the fact that they are total opposites.

He loves the limelight, his music career always central to his life. She enjoys her work and staying home with family, especially now that there are grandchildren.

In August, Joy Knowlton learned she had colon and liver cancer.

“When you hear those words for the first time, it’s devastating,” Nick Knowlton said. The day she was diagnosed “was almost black enough not to remember.”

But the couple has become closer since, changing their diets, cherishing the time they have together and with family, and embracing their spirituality as friends and neighbors have offered support and prayer.

Joy Knowlton has had four chemotherapy treatments, and on Thursday was scheduled for her third CT scan. Her husband said he expected the results to be positive.

“It’s very likely she’s going to be well,” he said, adding that he has taken on the role of nurturer, looking after her health. “I’m just vowing that she’s not going to die because we’re letting go.”

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